Compound locomotive-engine



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G. S. STRONG. COMPOUND LOOOMOTIVE ENGINE.

N0. 606,633. Patented June 28.1898.

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5 G N O R T S S G (No ModeL) COMPOUND LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE.

Patented June 28, 1898.

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G. S. STRONG. COMPOUND LOGOMOTIVB ENGINE.

Patented June 28,1898.

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110 606,633. Patented June 28,1898;

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PATENT FFICE.

N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO CLAYTON E. PLATT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

COMPOUND LOCO'MOTIVE-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming'part of Letters Patent No. 606,633, dated June 28, 1898.

Application filed n ary 4:, 1895. Serial No. 533,874. (No model.)

\ citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of New York, State of New York, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Compound Locomotive-Engines, of which the following is a trueand exact description, reference being had to'the accompanying drawings, which form a part thereof. I

My invention relates to the construction of compound locomotive-engines having four cylinders arranged in two pairs, one on each side of the engine-and each pair consisting of a high andalow pressurecylinder.

The principal object of my invention is to effect as nearlyas possible a perfect balance of its moving parts, so as toavoid at the same time what is known as the hammer-blow of the driversupon the rails and a sidewise movement of the engine due to an improper balance of the parts and known as nosing.

Further objects which I have in view are the simplification of the valve motion and its arrangement in such a way that the high-pressure steam may be out off at any point without eifecting the admission of steam to the low-pressure cylinders; also, I have madeimprovements in the castings containing the cylinders and the steam-passages connected therewith by which I provide for an arrangement of steam-passages at once direct and compacjt,'and Ihave further improved inthe devices heretofore. used in reheating steam on its way from thehigh to the low pressure cylinders; j i H The nature of my improvements will be best understood as described in connection with the drawings in which they are illustrated, and in which 1 Figure l is a front View Of my'improved compound locomotive, the part of the casting shown at theleft-hand side of thecenter line being takenon the section-line 00 0c of Fig. 2 and the'part of the casting shown at the righthand side of the center line beingtaken on the section-line a ufof Fig. 2, Fig. 2 being a side elevation of the front of the locomotive with the 'side of the smoke-boxes removed and a low-pressure cylinder shown in section on the line 1 y of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section through the main casting of the cylinders, steam-passages, &c., on the line 2 a of Fig. 1. Fig. i is a section of the main casting on the line 4) o of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is asection'on the line 10 w of Fig. 1; Fig. 6, a plan view showing one-half of the main casting. Fig. 7 is an elevation showing the valve-actuating mechanism, the low-pressure cylinder and its steam-box being shown in central section. Fig. 8 is a view of.a portion of one of the driving-wheels, showing the counterbalance thereof. Fig. 9 is a planview show- -ing the main driving-axle, the cranks, the cylinders'in section, and the connectionbetween the pistons and the cranks,'onep'air of pis-v tons and piston-rods being shown in section. Fig. 10 is a plan view of one side ofthe engine, showing the valve-gear, the boxes being sectioned to show' the valves in position. Figs. lljand12 are detail views, on a larger scale, showing particularly the arrangement for reversing'the throw and regulating the cut-off of the valves.

A indicates the smoke-box of the engine, situated in front of the tube-sheet A, which separates it from the boiler-body A B. is the smoke-stack; O, the steam-pipe leading from the boiler to the steam-passages leading to the high-pressure cylinders.

1 represents the main casting, comprising the high-pressure cylinders and the Various steam-passages which I am about to enumerate, and in its design it is intendedto secure the necessary strength, together with ample farea and direct alinement of steam-passages,

' ;in as compact a form as possible. The steam is delivered from the pipe O to the steam-passage 2, which passes down through the rear of the casting and then forward across the casting, as best shown in Figs, 3 and 5. Through openings 3 3 this steam-passagecommunicates with the valve-boxes 4: 4 of the high-pressure cylinders, (indicated'at 18 18.)

D indicates the piston-valve moving in each box 4, and 5 5 the ports controlled by the valve D and leading to the respective ends of the high-pressure cylinders.

6 indicates the space between the two heads of the valve D, through which the steam is exhausted and from which it passes through the passages 7 8 to the reheater, (represented at F.) From the reheater the steam passes again to passages 11, one leading to each lowpressure cylinder, and from the low-pressure cylinders, (indicated at 15,) but not formed in the casting], the steam passes to exhaustpassages 17, formed in the casting and leading to the exhaust-nozzle ll, below the stack 13. Each low-pressure cylinder is formed in a casting by itself and indicated at 1 l.

2 indicates the passage which communicates with the admissioirpassage 11 and leads to the valve-boxes 133, while 16 indicates the passage which leads from the said valve-boxes to the exhaust-passage l7, and 1t 11- indicate the ports leading from the valve-boxes to the respective ends of the low-pressure cylinders. The valve which I use in the valve-boxes 13 is shown in Figs. 7 and 10 and indicated at E.

The rehcaters which I employ consist of a series of bent U -shaped pipes (shown in Figs. 1 and 2) and connected at their ends withiron boxes G G, fitted with ground joints, so as to communicate with the passages 11 and 8 in the casting 1. This method of constructing the reheating device, which, of course, receives its heat from the gases entering the smoke-box, is advantageous, not onlybecause the multiple series of pipes afford a large heating-surface, but because, owing to their small size, they are conveniently made of an elastic metal and will not in contraction and expansion exert a breaking strain either upon themselves or upon their connections orjoints.

I and 1 indicate, respectively, the pistons of the low-pressure and high-pressure cylinders. As shown and for my purposes, this construction has peculiar merits. Each piston is made up of two metal plates holding between them the packing-rings I and secured to a hollow piston-rod I, having an enlarged hollow head 1 to which the inside edges of the piston-plates are secured by riveting or otherwise. It is very important, for reasons which will appear farther on, that the weight of the piston and piston-rod connected with the high-pressure cylinder should be substantially equal to the similar parts connected with the low-pressure cylinder, and this can readily be effected, as indicated in Fig. 9, by increasing the mass of material in the smaller piston and its red.

J and J indicate, respectively, the crossheads for the low and high pressure cylinders, and K and K the corresponding connectingrods leading to the cranks L and L. The cranks L are seen red to the d riving-wheels 3i. and the cranks L to cranks on the main driving-axle M. The cranks L and L, appertaining to each pair of cylinders, are set at one hundred and eighty degrees to each other, and each pair of cranks lies in a plane which is at right angles to that of the other pair of cranks, so that the cranks are distributed on the driving-axle'at ninety de rees apart. By this distribution of the cranks the reciprocating parts of each pair of cylinders move of course always in reverse directions, and their weights being balanced they substantially balance each other in their movement. The arrangement of cranks also is such as to tend to balance each other; but I consider it very important that each crank should be independently balanced and by counterweights which lie as nearly as possible in its plane of rotation. The center of mass in the counterweight should also move as nearly as possible in the same circle with the center of mass of the rotary parts to be balanced. This arrangement is carefully had in view in the drawings, where M indicates the counterweight formed in the driver to balance the crank L, while M M represent counterweights on each side of each crank L, the arrangement being obviously that which most nearly approaches a counterweight in its plane of rotation.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that by the system of counter-balancing both the reciprocating and rotating weights of the movable parts of the engine which I have above described both the hammer-blow of the drivers and the tendency of the cylinders to move from side to side will be practimlly overcome, since all the forces tending to produce these injurious results are counterbalanced and overcome by equal opposing forces at the verytimes when they are likely to produce these effects.

The above-described arrangement of the cylinders and their cranks enables me to provide a simple and efficient valve gear by which the adjustn'ient for the val ve-throw in each cylinderof a pair is rendered independent of the other, so that the cut-off of the high-pressure cylinders can be regulated at will without affecting the valve movement in thelow-pressure cylinders. I provide a return crank or cranks O, which, as shown, are secured to the crank-pins L and the ends of which extend to a position with respect to the center of the driving-axle which will give the desired travel to the connecting-rod (),which leads from the return-crank O and is connected to a projection P on a valve-actuating link P. This link is fastened by studs to a plate Q, secured in turn to a shaft Q, upon the other end of which is another plate Q, to which plate is secured a link 1'), which operates the valve connection of the high-pressure cylinder, while the link I operates that of the low-pressure cylinder, the two links having at all times exactly the same motion and constituting practically a double link through their connection by means of the shaft Q. R and 9* indicate, respectively, slides movable in the links P andp, and connected by means of rods R r with the valves of the low and high pressure cylinders. The connection, as

shown, is through disks S ands, around which pass the straps Pt 0- of the rods R a", and to which disks are secured levers S and s", the connection, as shown, being through points S 2 8 s and the rods S 5" being connected by links S" and s to the cross-heads J and J,

ICC

them through their lap and lead.

respectively. The valve-rods E are connected to the disks at the points S and s, and

the action upon the valves due to the movements of the cross-head is vsimply to throw In the position shown in Fig. 7 this is the only movement which would be 'given to the valves; but obviously any desired travel can be given by moving the slides R 0" up or down in their links. Motion is given to the slides B through a link'T, by means of a lever-arm T", secured to a shaft T to which shaft motion can be given through the lever T and any desired connections therewith. motion is given to the slide 0" by a similar train of mechanism t and the sleeve 1?, which is, as shown, supported on the shaft T and to Whichan independent motion can be given through the lever 25 By this arrangement it is obvious that the movement of the two valves can be entirely independent, and the sim plicity of the device is of course obvious. It

will be noticed, of course, that the desired pistons in each pair of cylinders.

Having now described my invention, what- I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a compound locomotive-engine the combination of two pairs of high and low pressure cylinders, one pair arranged on each side of the engine with pistons and pistonrods Working in said cylinders the weight of which is substantially equal in all the cylinders, a main driving-shaft having connected with it four cranks at ninety degrees apart, the cranks for each pair of high and low pressure cylinders set at one hundred and eighty degrees, and counterweights for each crank arranged as nearly as possible in its plane of rotation, and with their center of mass revolving substantially in the same circle as that of the mass of the crank and its attachments.

2. In a compound locomotive-engine the On the other hand,

combination of two pairs each consisting of a high and low pressure cylinder and onepair arranged on each side of the engine, cranks for each pair of cylinders set atone hundred and eighty degrees apart on the same axle, a double valve-actuating link P p independently-actuated link-slides R 0 one in each part of the double link and the valves of the high and low pressure cylinders connected respectively to the slides r and R. 3.. In a compound locomotive-engine having'two pairs each consisting of ahigh and low pressure cylinder and one pair secured on each side of the engine, steam-passages leading from the exhaust of the high-pressure cylinders and from the admission of the lowpressure cylinders to the smoke-box, and a reheater connecting said steam-passages and consisting of a series of U-shaped pipes.

4. In a compound locomotive-engine having two pairs each consisting of a high and low pressure cylinder and one pair secured on each side of the engine, steam-passages leading from the exhaust of the high-pressure cylinders and from'the admission of the lowpressure cylinders to the smoke-box, cast-iron tube-heads 8 and 10 fastened to the mouths of the steam-passages with ground joints anda series 'of U-shaped tubes connecting said boxes as described, and forming a reheater.

5. In a compound locomotive-engine having two pairs of high and low pressure cylinders one pair on each side, cranks for each pair of cylinders set at one hundred and eighty degrees to each other, piston-rods I I connected to said cranks, and to pistons'I 1 the piston-rod of one or both pistons being hollow and having an enlarged hollow head I to which the plates of the piston are secured and the material of the two pistons and their rods being so arranged as to be substantially equal in weight.

GEORGE S. STRONG. 

